I've come across several sayings that have the particle "ne" in them. i.e. "Ii desu ne" and "Shibaraku desu ne"
I realize that there seems to be a pattern of it coming after Desu. I find myself trying to understand the usage of it, and plain old definition of the particle.

Can anyone teach me the ways of the "Ne"? there is a deffinate lack of information within my text book and J/E-J/E dictionary. Arigato gozaimasu.

To paraphrase Pimsleur's explanation -- "Japanese is a collectivistic society in which there is a strong desire to have one's peers agree with them. The 'ne' ending for sentences is an expression of that, and means something to the effect of 'isn't it?' or 'don't you think?' [sic]"

So that's pretty much what it is. I bet you could even draw a somewhat disturbing parallel between 'ne' and the northern US / Canadian expression 'eh?'

Some sites call it an 'emotion marker'. There's a couple of 'em, and comparing usage might help.

'ne' -- as described above

'yo' -- tack it on the end of a sentence that is your opinion, and that you think you know something better than the person you're speaking to.
In english, you could substitute it with ".... you know."
"Kyou wa samui desu."
It's cold today.
"Kyou wa samui desu yo."
I think it's cold today, you know. <-- you might say this to someone who is about to leave the house in a t-shirt and no coat, indicating that you know how cold it is outside and they probably don't.

'naa' -- is like 'ne' but doesn't really want an answer like 'ne' pretty much implies. You'd sort of use it when talking to yourself. "So, he thinks he's a badass, huh? I'll show him!"

Sorry, don't know the japanese words to give you that in a kana sentence. But 'huh' would be where 'naa' would go.

Last edited by mandolin on Thu 10.20.2005 5:21 am, edited 1 time in total.